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Inappropriate Random
INAPPROPRIATE RANDOM is a collection of stories by new and established writers from the UK and North America about love in many forms; it is the American book edition version of STRICTLY CASUAL.
In one story, an escapee schoolgirl seems to have given up on real love with her non-communicative boyfriend and family, preferring instead to daydream in the intense summer heat. A teenaged hearse driver in another prefers to love non-living bodies. A love-lorn twenty-something in one fragmented piece decides to reduce the social rituals of finding love to the calculated formalities of job hunting. One features a jealous heroine who drives away the result of her boyfriend's mid-life crisis: right down the freeway. Cats play such a strange part in a relationship in one piece of flash fiction that a girl's boyfriend is driven to shoot and then bury them in the backyard. A thirty-something is caught in between two men in one story: a real lover and a gay male housemate who provides domestic harmony. The star of another likes to show more affection towards her canine charges than to any human.
Features 16 short fiction stories by A.M. Homes, Barbara Gowdy, Lynne Tillman, Elizabeth Graver and many others.
INTRODUCTION (EXTRACT):
"A collection of stories by established and emerging writers from Britain and the U.S., INAPPROPRIATE RANDOM represents far more diverse, and often much more mysterious, versions of love than any other 'post-Bridget Jones' fiction."
Amy Prior
PRESS REVIEWS (EXTRACTS) OF THE UK BOOK EDITION:
'Seek this out - short story collections of this calibre deserve to be cherished.'
i-D
'Very clever and very funny.'
Time Out
'Strictly Casual shows originality by offering an unusual representation of diverse cultures.'
The Times
In one story, an escapee schoolgirl seems to have given up on real love with her non-communicative boyfriend and family, preferring instead to daydream in the intense summer heat. A teenaged hearse driver in another prefers to love non-living bodies. A love-lorn twenty-something in one fragmented piece decides to reduce the social rituals of finding love to the calculated formalities of job hunting. One features a jealous heroine who drives away the result of her boyfriend's mid-life crisis: right down the freeway. Cats play such a strange part in a relationship in one piece of flash fiction that a girl's boyfriend is driven to shoot and then bury them in the backyard. A thirty-something is caught in between two men in one story: a real lover and a gay male housemate who provides domestic harmony. The star of another likes to show more affection towards her canine charges than to any human.
Features 16 short fiction stories by A.M. Homes, Barbara Gowdy, Lynne Tillman, Elizabeth Graver and many others.
INTRODUCTION (EXTRACT):
"A collection of stories by established and emerging writers from Britain and the U.S., INAPPROPRIATE RANDOM represents far more diverse, and often much more mysterious, versions of love than any other 'post-Bridget Jones' fiction."
Amy Prior
PRESS REVIEWS (EXTRACTS) OF THE UK BOOK EDITION:
'Seek this out - short story collections of this calibre deserve to be cherished.'
i-D
'Very clever and very funny.'
Time Out
'Strictly Casual shows originality by offering an unusual representation of diverse cultures.'
The Times
- GenresAnthologies
276 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 27, 2010
This book was a collection of well-written stories, some enjoyable and some disturbing. I enjoyed 'Between' for its many metaphors and thematic interpretation of our psychological need to feel safe but at the same time feel life has variety. Perhaps, because the female protagonist has a gay male roommate who is also her best friend, I felt connected to this story.
Another story disturbed me. "We So Seldom Look On Love" follows the life journey of a female necrophiliac whose brother commits suicide. Although well-written, the graphic nature of this story gave me the shivers.
Another story disturbed me. "We So Seldom Look On Love" follows the life journey of a female necrophiliac whose brother commits suicide. Although well-written, the graphic nature of this story gave me the shivers.
February 19, 2008
One of the very best collection of short stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews